


Love across time

by ccswede99



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Human AU, M/M, bringbackhetalia2020, historical fantasy/modern
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24167386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccswede99/pseuds/ccswede99
Summary: An archeologist finds a journal from the Roman Empire at a dig, when touched, the owner of the journal gets teleported through time into the trench! The two then go on a mission to find a rumored treasure.
Relationships: South Italy/Spain (Hetalia)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Love across time

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my Hetabang project with the lovely [Riri](https://pristinebeat.tumblr.com/), she did the artwork for the fic, more art will come soon!  
> I also want to thank [Learninghowtosmut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/learninghowtosmut/pseuds/learninghowtosmut) for helping me with the fic by being my beta and fixing the intro to the fic.

Antonio slammed back the eighth cup of coffee of the night and let out a groan. This whole dig was exhausting, but even though the sun had long since set, he couldn’t find the strength to force himself to leave. He was the only one left in the marked-out trenches nestled into a derelict part of Rome.

The street had been earmarked for development into a new industrial centre, but of course, the surveys had to be carried out first. To everyone’s surprise, they found a whole new row of perfectly preserved houses dating back to potentially the height of Imperial Rome. And he was the lucky guy who’d been chosen to head the whole thing.

He checked his watch. Four am. No wonder the coffee wasn’t having an effect any more. He really needed to get back to the hotel and actually get some sleep. But still, he couldn’t leave. Even though his knees ached and his hands were stiff and his eyes were heavy, there was something that made him stay. Something whispering to him that something big was going to happen.

With his spine cracking like a glowstick, he got to his feet and stretched out with another deep groan. The hotel wasn’t far to trudge, at least.

“I told you not to wait for me,” he protested when he saw Gilbert sprawled over a couch in the darkened lobby. They’d been friends for a long time; nobody knew him and his self-destructive habits better. Some might whisper accusations of favouritism, looking at the fact that he had been following Antonio around on dig after dig since the Spaniard had gained status and admiration as one of the foremost archaeologists in Europe.

The next morning, Antonio was on his knees digging through the dirt at the dig site when he suddenly came across a book, something that seemed to be in perfect shape despite supposedly being over 1,600 years old. He frowned in confusion and bent down to dust it off before picking it up to put in a container to the side where finds were put. As he lifted up the book, there was a flash of light, causing Antonio to fall backwards and be temporarily blinded which caused him to close his eyes to block out the light before he felt someone land on him, but he was the only one in this trench?

“Oi! What the fuck do you think you are doing with my journal??” the voice of the person above him spoke up before the book in Antonio’s hands was yanked towards them. How he was still holding onto it, he had no idea. He let the book go before he opened his eyes to adjust to the sunlight, squinting slightly as his hand came up to shield them. Wait, he wasn’t speaking English or Italian, he was speaking Latin? Antonio must be hearing things.

He was met with a pouting man with his hands on his hips, the journal in his left hand as it rested against his hip. He had curly brown hair, much like Antonio’s own hair, but his own hair was messier curls. The other man also seemed to have a stray curl that strayed on the right side of his head. Beneath heavily scowling eyebrows, his eyes were as bright as the sun; golden, passionate, full of life. What really stood out to him, was the fact that the male was not wearing clothes he was used to seeing around town and such, but a toga that hung loosely over his body. What?

“Well? Are you going to answer me? Or are you deaf?” the man snapped Antonio out of his staring when he spoke again, his pout deepening into a scowl as his eyebrows furrowed deeper. Nope, he was speaking Latin.  
“Who are you and how did you get into this trench?” the words slipped past the archeologist’s lips before he thought of it, though it was hesitant since he was unsure how the other would react to the Latin he knew.   
“My name is Flavius Laurentus Vargas, and what trench..?” the man apparently going by the name Laurentus looked around finally before his face scrunched in confusion, there was no recognition regarding the buildings surrounding them. Then his face turned into horror as he seemed to realize something. “What happened to my home??” he asked, voice seemingly caught in his throat in fear. Nothing was familiar; this wasn’t the Rome he knew, if it even was Rome.  
“Your home? Did something happen to it?” Antonio would ask about the name later, first of all, he needed to calm the man down.   
“Yes, my home in Rome! I was supposed to be in my room when suddenly I’m here, in a place I have no recognition of!” Laurentus gestured to the area surrounding him, feeling his heart hammering in his chest as he looked around before properly looking at Antonio, chest heaving as he tried to calm himself down. He moved backwards as the other properly sat up, moving even further back as he reached out to him.  
“Okay, Laurentus, we’re going to find out what’s going on. I’m Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. I’m an archeologist. I am digging this site of preserved houses suspected of being from the height of the Roman Empire, we’re standing in the remains of one of the houses right now” he was trying to be calm and collected.   
“From the height of the Roman Empire? I’m a citizen of the empire, are you telling me that it’s no longer? What year is it??” Antonio wasn’t helping at all, everything was overwhelming Laurentus, the unfamiliar noises of horns and chattering in a language that was unfamiliar to him were closing in, and then it went dark as he collapsed in Antonio’s arms.

Antonio swiftly caught him and just stared at the man in his arms, okay, this was real, this man wasn’t just a figment of his imagination that came up because of the flash of light that blinded him. It wasn’t Gilbert pranking him with a flash bang, he didn’t hear the other’s laughter. Oh shit, oh shit, what was he to do now that everything was crashing down. He was thankful that he was in a trench more secluded so that no one heard what had happened and could question it. He then looked properly at the man laying in his arms and, damn, he was pretty attractive and shit, if he wasn’t gay before, he sure as hell was real fucking gay now for this man almost certainly. But first, he needed to bring him to the hotel so he could wake up in a calmer environment. He adjusted his hold on Laurentus, lifting him up bridal style before calling out to Gilbert to watch over everything while he went to the hotel, the latter would find out later about what was really going on at some point.

Antonio was sitting at the table in his hotel room when he heard Laurentus come to, he had been doing some research on the man, hoping to figure out what was going on, nothing was coming up that made any sense, who was he? Finally, he turned to look at the man laying in his bed, sighing softly.   
  
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, hoping not to startle him. He already felt bad for seemingly upsetting him when they first met.   
“Where am I? Really?” Laurentus groaned slightly as he tried to sit up, frowning slightly at the softness of the bed underneath him.   
“My hotel room, you passed out in my arms in the trench I was digging in. I moved you so you could be in a less chaotic place when you woke up again.” Antonio replied carefully, gauging his reaction to what he was being told.

“What city is what I mean dumbass, what city am I in or do you not even know where we are?”

“You are in Rome, in the year 2019 CE if that is what you are asking,” Antonio slowly made his way over to the bed and gingerly sat on the edge of it, not too close, but still close as to show he meant no harm, “Do you know who is running the country?” if this man said he was from the Roman Empire, maybe he could pinpoint a timeframe if he knew what emperor was ruling. If he actually was from the Roman Empire that is. For all Antonio knew, the man could have found out about the dig and snuck into the trench after he left the night before and hid the journal and then arranged a flashbang and then fell on top of him, faking everything that had happened previously. That or the man was just insane.   
“Of course, Imperator Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus is the emperor” Laurentus sounded insulted that Antonio didn’t know who the emperor was until the year he said dawned on him, it was not the time he was from what it sounded like.   
Antonio nodded slightly in thought at what the latter said, so it was Hadrian who was ruling, that gave him a time frame of roughly twenty years between 120 and 140, shit, he really was not in his own time, that’s why he looked so... Roman. Slowly, he started to tell the other about what was going on, making sure that the other wouldn’t start panicking again. Once the conversation was over, Antonio reluctantly told him what needed to be done.   


“If you want to fit in this time, we’re going to have to first ‘change’ your name to make it sound like a normal name in this time, and then get you clothes that don’t stick out.”  
“And what name are you thinking?” Laurentus huffed slightly, not liking the idea at all. Changing his name?? That was absurd.   
“Laurentus Vargas, modernized, would be Lorenzo Vargas, your surname thankfully doesn’t have to change, but your first name has to. It’ll be tough, I know, but we have to do it.” Antonio waited and watched as Laurentus, now Lorenzo, tested his modernized name out a few times, not entirely liking it, but he had no choice in the matter.  
“Lorenzo sounds okay, but I much prefer my own name”   
“It’s the closest to your name, now we have to get you some new clothes”   
“And where will we get that?”   
“I know where to go, it might be a few places, but we’ll find clothes for you, here you can borrow some clothes for now that would probably be best to wear, otherwise you might get uncomfortable.” Antonio made his way to his suitcase and pulled out a pair of underwear, shorts, socks and sneakers that Lorenzo could wear for now.   
“I can help you put them on and then we can get going, how does that sound?” he hummed slightly as he showed them to the other.  
“If I absolutely have to wear them, fine, but I really don’t understand why I can’t just wear my toga, it looks much more comfortable than what you are wearing.” Lorenzo complained as he was helped into the clothes by Antonio, following him out of the hotel room and to the stores.

“Antonio, do I really have to wear this?” Lorenzo said from behind the cloth screen separating the two of them in one of the stores that the archeologist had dragged the out of time man to.

He was looking at the clothes that Antonio had chosen for him with distrust. Pants? Barbaric. Why would he have to wear these things; his toga worked very well thank you very much, but if he were to fit in according to Antonio, he would sadly have to suck it up and wear them. He was already wearing some borrowed clothing to make sure that there was some ‘approval’ from people who would see him walking around, it felt uncomfortable. The closed-toed shoes were squishing his feet and the socks, at least that is what Antonio called them, felt odd on his feet.

“Yes, you do, come on Lau-Lorenzo. Do you need me to help you out?” came the reply from Antonio “Since it’s not anything you are used to.”  
“I’m fine! I don’t need any help!” Lorenzo replied quickly as he reached for one of the shirts hanging on the wall that Antonio had chosen for him, frowning slightly at how the fabric felt between his fingers. It felt smoother and softer than the toga that he was wearing, slightly unpleasant but he had to deal with it if he wanted to figure out how to get back to his own time. He got out of the clothes he was wearing, minus what Antonio told him to keep on and started to put the shirt on, grimacing slightly at the feeling of the seams against his skin, it also hugged his body in ways that he was not used to.

There was a bit of a struggle but soon enough, the first outfit was on and Lorenzo just looked at himself in the mirror, not really recognizing who was in front of him. The reflection was also so  _ clear _ , how did people manage to figure that out? It was beautiful and he looked  _ good _ , better than what his polished bronze ever did. The pants felt weird and almost constricting, but it didn’t feel like it was too big or too small though. The shirt was bright and patterned, nothing like he was used to, well, he was the one who chose it to try it on. He took a deep breath before speaking up.   
“What should I do now Antonio?” He asked, wondering what to do now.   
“Come on out and let me see it, I need to make sure it fits you right” Antonio responded, getting up from where he was sitting “Can I come in actually?” he asked.   
“Um, yeah, I guess, it feels weird,” Lorenzo turned to look at Antonio as the other opened the cloth screen so he could look at Lorenzo and judge the outfit to make sure nothing was out of place. He noticed a look on Antonio that seemed unreadable, but there was no disgust over how he looked, clearly. Antonio on the other hand, was having another gay panic. The jeans fit him perfectly and accentuated his butt perfectly, the shirt hugged his body just right, leaving little to the imagination. It took everything in his power to not just raise his hands to his mouth, palms together and just go ‘boi, you looking hella fine’.  
This caused Lorenzo to shift uncomfortably under Antonio’s gaze “Well?” he asked “What do you think? Is it passable?” The silence was deafening amongst the people milling around the store in the background. Antonio shook himself out of the staring that he had found himself in before nodding.   
“Yeah, it looks really good on you, um, let me quickly look at the sizes so I can go look for more outfits and other stuff you’re going to be needing” also to stop himself from staring at Lorenzo any more than he already had been. “Try on the rest of the clothes to see if you like them while I do that, how does that sound?” he suggested as he checked the sizes, nodding to himself as he committed them to memory.   
Lorenzo nodded mutely at that, not entirely liking being left alone in this foreign place, but he wasn’t going to be moving from this area either way so it wouldn’t be that bad, right? He took a deep breath as Antonio left the little closed off room, sliding the cloth screen back into place for privacy before trying on the rest of the clothes.

The shopping spree lasted for a few hours, Antonio having made sure that Lorenzo changed into one of the outfits they bought at the first store in what Antonio told the Roman was a bathroom to get him out of the toga.  
They bought a few pairs of shoes for Lorenzo after that, making sure they were practical and comfortable to wear and not unpleasant since he was more used to wearing sandals.  
They also ended up stopping at stores that caught Lorenzo’s eye and Antonio got him little trinkets that he liked.

They made their way back to the hotel and were met by Gilbert lounging about in the lobby, as if he was waiting for Antonio to return from his sudden disappearance from the dig, very unlike him.

“Yo! Tonio! Where did you go? Someone told me that you left the site with someone in your arms.” He asked when he finally saw Antonio, getting up out of the seat he was unceremoniously draped over, stopping when he saw Lorenzo standing beside Antonio. A confused look soon made its way onto his features “Who’s this?” he couldn’t help but ask, noticing the shopping bags in their arms and the confusion only deeped “And why are you two carrying shopping bags? Did you diss the dig to go  _ shopping _ Antonio? That’s so unlike you! You love being at digs!” he crossed his arms over his chest in disappointment in his best friend.  
Antonio laughed awkwardly in response to the scolding “Gilbert, this is Lorenzo Vargas” he avoided anything else that Gilbert asked, making sure that Lorenzo was okay and that he wouldn’t do anything to tip Gilbert off that he wasn’t from this time.

He realized he had hoped too soon when he saw Lorenzo’s eyes widen like saucers when he saw Gilbert before looking around at everyone else in the area then back at him, in disbelief.

“He’s so  _ pale _ , Antonio” he breathed slightly, holding onto the archeologist’s arm in awe and slight wariness, he didn’t trust the man Antonio clearly knew “I’ve never seen anyone as pale as him, and his  _ eyes _ . They look like blood or rubies”

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at that and crossed his arms over his chest, slightly offended at the other’s reaction to seeing him, but there was something off because of it. He sent a questioning look towards Antonio with a raised eyebrow before speaking up “How has Lorenzo never seen or heard about albinos before?” he was curious now, there was something Antonio was keeping from him and he wanted  _ answers _ , not later though,  _ now _ .  
Antonio let out a sigh before getting closer to Gilbert “Not here” he said finally, putting a hand on Gilbert’s arm with the hand that wasn’t trapped by Lorenzo holding it “I’ll explain everything in my hotel room” he knew he couldn’t hide anything now that his best friend was suspicious of what was going on, he never could hide stuff either way, it was always sniffed out sooner or later. Sooner more often than not.   
Gilbert nodded slightly “Okay then, let’s go up to your room then” he agreed, keeping an eye on Lorenzo the entire time as the trio made their way up to the room.

In the room, Antonio closed the door behind the three of them, watching Lorenzo make his way to the bed and awkwardly sitting on it as Gilbert took a seat near the window, leaning back as he waited for Antonio to speak. “Well?” he started impatiently.

“Lorenzo isn’t from our time” Antonio blurted out as he sat down at the desk in the room, looking towards Lorenzo, hoping the other could help him out. “That’s why he reacted the way he did seeing you, Gilbert. Albinos were rarer than they are now during the Roman Empire.”

“I mean, no shit they were rarer during the Roman Empire. They all got fucking killed at birth obviously! Since no one wanted to deal with ‘demonic babies’ that didn’t look like everyone else.” Gilbert agreed before everything else finally caught up to him and he looked between his best friend and the mysterious man, letting out a bark of laughter in disbelief “Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that he’s  _ from the Roman Empire _ ? I know you love a good joke Antonio, but seriously, that isn’t even possible! Did you hire him for some elaborate prank so you could like, skip the dig for the day?”

“It is possible, apparently” Lorenzo finally spoke up with a huff “My name actually is Flavius Laurentus Vargas, but Antonio had to change it to Lorenzo to make it sound like I’m from this time. I am a -  _ was _ a citizen of the empire under the rule of Imperator Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus.” It hurt him to say that he  _ was _ a citizen of the empire and not  _ is _ , during his and Antonio’s shopping trip, the latter had told him everything that had happened between his time and now, which included the fact that the empire had fallen.

“I still call bullshit, how would it be that you ended up in this time if you’re from the Roman Empire?” Gilbert responded, still not believing the two of them.   


By this time, Antonio had dug out the journal from one of the shopping bags, very clearly from the time of the Roman Empire as it was just wax tablets tied together in a booklet like form. He then spoke up in thought, it had been on his mind the entire time he and Lorenzo had been shopping, how the Roman had been brought to this time the way he did.

“I think it was because of this” Antonio finally said, showing it to Gilbert, much to Lorenzo’s vocal protests, he didn’t know what the other would do with it if it was in his hands! Antonio sent Lorenzo a look of assurance before continuing “When I was in the trench earlier today, I found it in the dirt in the state you see it in now, almost perfect. After dusting it off, I picked it up and then there was this flash of light and then Lorenzo landed on top of me after the light blinded me and knocked me back. I don’t know why or how, but I think that it is the reason Lorenzo is here.”   
“You’re blaming  _ my _ journal for bringing me here?!” Lorenzo sounded offended at that after Antonio’s explanation “That’s fucking crazy! It couldn’t have!”   


“Well, there have been some rumors of magic being actually real and not just stuff of legends” Gilbert finally piped up, holding the journal in his hands and inspecting it “Not that I believe them of course. Also, Antonio, what were you  _ thinking _ ?? Taking an artifact from a dig like this? You could get in trouble for it you know.”   
“I know, I know, but I couldn’t exactly not leave it there in the trench. If it was what brought Lorenzo here, what might happen if someone else touched it? But clearly it won’t do anything strange again since you’re holding it right now.”

“I’m here you know, stop speaking over me as if I’m not here” Lorenzo huffed, going to take the object in question out of Gilbert’s hold, holding it close to his chest again “And as if I’d leave it to complete and utter  _ strangers _ to manhandle. No way, it’s hard enough letting you and Antonio hold it. It’s special to me, given to me by my grandfather.”  
It felt odd to him how left out he felt when he heard Gilbert and Antonio speaking about things that he didn’t know about, but it was about  _ him _ and his  _ things _ that they were talking about that made it feel so much more alienated to him. Was this the future of the Empire he grew up in? Just a bunch of things found in dirt and talked about as if there was no life to what they were used for? Was this how the people would be talked about?

The three spoke for a few more hours, Gilbert grilling Lorenzo over trivial things of Roman life to prove to himself that what the two had said was true, that Lorenzo was from the Roman Empire and had been magically brought to modern times. As time went on though, the more Gilbert started to believe and just was looking at Lorenzo in disbelief over everything. It soon got late enough that Gilbert had to leave to get ready to go get dinner for himself before looking at Antonio one last time.

“Look, you and Lorenzo are going to have to figure out what he can do without drawing suspicion to him. I mean, he can help out with the dig of course, but you have to be careful. You never know what people might do if they find out what the three of us know” he nodded slightly and then left the room, leaving Antonio and Lorenzo to sit in silence to digest what had been said. Gilbert did have a point, they had to be careful, they didn’t know how people would react if they found out that Romano was from the past. Antonio took a deep breath after a while and looked at Lorenzo, knowing they would have to have that discussion sooner rather than later.

“We’re going to have to work hard to make sure that you aren’t too out of place when we’re at the dig, since, from what you’ve told me, I think we’re digging up your house. You said you were in your room before you landed on me. Your journal never left your room, did it?” Antonio asked hesitantly, letting out a deep sigh as Lorenzo nodded in confirmation to Antonio’s hypothesis. “Okay, then we’ll work around that. We can say that you’re an expert in Roman history and I hired you later than I would have liked; I didn’t hire anyone yet for that position. To be fair, the dig hasn’t been going for that long, but there’s still work to do and someone who knows what they are talking about when it comes to Roman history would be a tremendous help when it comes to figuring out how people, you for example but others wouldn’t know of course, lived during that time.”

“But I was studying to be a lawyer before all this happened though, how would all this work?” Lorenzo frowned slightly as his arms crossed over his chest in thought as he leaned back against the headboard of the bed, not entirely sure how Antonio planned on everything going smoothly when at any moment things could go south in a really bad way.

“You’ll just have to follow my lead, I’ll make sure that nothing will happen that will cause us issues. I promise you that Lorenzo” Antonio smiled slightly in assurance towards the Roman as he sat on the other side of the bed beside Lorenzo. The two had had an awkward discussion earlier in the day, before Gilbert showed up, about sleeping arrangements. Since there was only one bed in this room, no one expected Lorenzo being summoned so it was just Antonio in the room previously, the two would be sharing it for the time being. Both would have their own side of the bed and if either of them felt it was appropriate, they would build a wall of pillows between them so there was a respectable distance between them.

They sat like that for a while, not entirely knowing what to speak about before Antonio finally asked what had been on his mind for a while, a request he was sure would be denied given how protective the other was of it.

“Is it okay if I read your journal Lorenzo?” He asked, looking over at the other “I understand if you don’t want me to since it’s private and all”

Lorenzo looked at Antonio in return, his face clearly full of uncertainty as he internally debated on if he would allow the archeologist to read his personal thoughts. Something deep inside him though was telling him that Antonio was trustworthy and wouldn’t judge him for what was written on the pages. He then passed over the journal to Antonio carefully “Be careful with it” he told him firmly as it was set in Antonio’s hands. Sitting back to watch Antonio, he waited for the other to open the journal and read it.

Antonio opened the journal carefully, as if he would break it before reading the words on the pages carefully. His mouth slowly started to move along as his eyes scanned the pages and soon enough, he was murmuring the text to himself, completely entranced by what was before him.  
As Lorenzo listened to Antonio speaking Latin properly, he noticed how atrocious his accent was and let out a snort of laughter, causing Antonio to look up in surprise. Clearly he wasn’t expecting the laughter coming from Lorenzo.

“What’s so funny?” he asked curiously, only causing Lorenzo to laugh more, doubling over as he tried to catch his breath.

“Your Latin is  _ terrible _ Antonio! How can you pronounce everything so wrong but I’m still able to understand you?” Lorenzo had moved so he was laying down on the bed, not able to sit up for much longer, laughter still escaping past his lips, he was so amused about the whole situation.

“Well sorry that Latin is considered a dead language and the only way to learn it is through reading and guessing pronunciation” Antonio snorted in laughter back, he hadn’t realized how stupid he must have sounded to Lorenzo until he mentioned it. By this time, Lorenzo’s laughter had died down and he was looking up at Antonio curiously.

“It’s a dead language? What does that mean?” he asked, not entirely understanding what Antonio meant by it being a dead language.

“Well, a dead language means that it’s not spoken in everyday life anymore. It basically only exists in text. Latin has basically paved the way to languages like Italian and Spanish” Antonio explained awkwardly, not very good in explaining what Lorenzo was asking of him.   
“Spanish and Italian? Where are they spoken?” the Roman tilted his head curiously at that, those were two new languages he never heard of.

“Italian is spoken here in Italy, you’ve heard it around you every now and then while we were out and about. Spanish is spoken in Spain, which is where Hispania used to be.”

“Do you speak either of those languages?” Lorenzo was now curious, what languages  _ did _ Antonio speak? He seemed to know a bit about languages and their history.

“I speak Spanish actually, I grew up in Spain” Antonio hummed softly as he sat back against the headboard before gesturing to the journal, hoping to change the subject, there was something that Lorenzo had written that caught his eye.

“You know, what you wrote about this trial about someone of high status using magic to get a large amount of riches, I’d read about it in papers about it when I was in school. It is really hard to forget about the general gist of it, the way everything was laid out and the instructions he said… Oh what was it again?” Antonio was idly tapping the page in thought as he tried to remember what the man had said.

“ _ Where the siren fell without enticing, look to the centaur who fell in love with her. Go to his home and find its door, wait until Helios shows his face in the doorway as he leaves the skies for Luna to appear. But time and time alone can show you what you seek, for what does time mean when time means different to another?” _ Lorenzo said gently, knowing exactly what Antonio meant. He caught the surprise on the other’s face at the fact that he remembered it before laughing “I was at the trial, my teacher was the one who led it, I had to write everything down for him. To learn that is,” he explained finally with a nonchalant shrug “Plus it was a few days ago for me, so it’s fresh in my mind.”

“You were  _ there _ ? What was it like?” the archeologist asked curiously in a breathy sigh as he just watched Lorenzo “How many people were there? Was it intense?”

“Wow Antonio, you sure are someone who asks a lot of questions” Lorenzo teased gently, he hadn’t quite expected the questions, but something about Antonio made it easy for him to tease “Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to answer everything but I can tell you that there were a  _ lot _ of people there. The whole thing was just a huge scandal that everyone wanted to know how it would end. As well as wanting to find the fabled treasure as well. Heck, even I wanted to honestly” he had finally sat up and leaned against the headboard again.

“Then why don’t we find it? Since clearly magic is real,  _ you’re _ here, in modern times.” There was an excited shine in Antonio’s eyes that Lorenzo could clearly see. The thought of finding the treasure did pique Lorenzo’s interest as well and soon enough, his own eyes held the same excited shine.

“We would just need to figure out where it is though and what that last comment about time means, but why not? It sounds like fun” He agreed with a grin, plus it would help him get used to life in this time if somehow he couldn’t return to his own time.

Antonio grinned back before frowning in thought “We can’t exactly go on the treasure hunt just yet of course. I - We have to finish the dig first, I can’t exactly go off and leave it hanging. I’m a respected archeologist, I have my reputation to hold and if I just abandon it, I might lose all credibility I have.”

“Of course, of course, we can finish that first and then do the search, but what if we did the research in the evenings?” Lorenzo suggested “So if we figure it out before the dig is done, we can go straight to finding it.”

“That sounds like a good idea” Antonio agreed and held up a hand to his mouth to cover a yawn, the day having finally caught up to him. “It’s getting late though, we should get ready for bed and then get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow” He got out of the bed and went to grab a set of sleepwear he had brought with him to bring with him to the bathroom to change, even though he preferred to sleep without them. He just wanted to be respectful to Lorenzo and not let him be uncomfortable around him.

Lorenzo took the hint and quickly, but awkwardly, changed into his own sleepwear that had been bought that day, settling down on his side of the bed awkwardly. He didn’t lay under the covers until Antonio laid down on his side of the bed after turning off the lights in the room and pulled the covers over him after setting up the pillow wall between them.

“Goodnight Lorenzo” Antonio murmured softly as he settled down to sleep, yawning again as he had his back turned to the Roman on the bed beside him. He didn’t know what he would end up doing if he was facing the other. He was sharing a bed with a very attractive man, Antonio was in for it now.

“Goodnight” Lorenzo replied, laying on his back and looking at the ceiling, it would take a long while for him to fall asleep. His thoughts were all over the place and the fear of what had happened properly caught up to him. He wasn’t where he belonged, he was out of his time and this man on the bed beside him just took him in and helped him without second thought. He was thankful that the other spoke Latin, even if it was atrocious pronunciation, but it was still Latin nonetheless. He could teach him proper pronunciations tomorrow of course. He finally succumbed to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, his thoughts finally having calmed down enough to allow him the slumber he needed.

The next morning, after breakfast, Antonio made his way to the dig with Lorenzo, telling him what had happened up until the previous day. He also explained what his job was and how Lorenzo’s job would do as his job. Antonio also realized that Lorenzo only spoke Latin, he didn’t know any of the languages that would be spoken around the trenches. In the end, Antonio decided that, to explain why Lorenzo only spoke Latin, was because he wanted to immerse himself in what life would have been like for a typical Roman and fell a bit too deep, becoming too rusty in Italian to be comfortable speaking it, let alone understand it. Antonio would be his translator in that sense with that story. He had also told Gilbert that story just to help make it more believable.

When the two arrived at the dig, Antonio introduced Lorenzo to everyone and told them the cover story that had been created for him. Everyone welcomed the newcomer, but of course some were sceptical over what had been told, but they said nothing, just joining in on the welcoming of Lorenzo and allowing him to join in on the dig. As the dig went on, Lorenzo ended up mostly sticking close to Antonio in the trenches while everyone worked, he did help out in explaining things when asked about it. Antonio translating what had been told. Lorenzo had been proven useful by the end of the day as the two returned to the hotel to wash off the grime of the day and go out for a good dinner before going to bed to get a good night’s rest for the next day.

That was how the days went, Antonio and Lorenzo at the dig, Lorenzo explaining how things found were used as well as explanations of the rooms uncovered in the various trenches. What Antonio didn’t realize was how he was falling properly in love with Lorenzo. How there were nostalgic sparks in Lorenzo’s eyes when he saw something that he had used when he was in his own time and how passionate he was when explaining the use of it to Antonio to translate for the rest of the people at the dig. Antonio also noticed how snarky Lorenzo could be when someone pissed him off, Gilbert mostly, which wasn’t much of a surprise if he was honest. The snark was endearing, it clearly showed how Lorenzo didn’t take shit from anyone and it was refreshing in a way. There had been too many people that Antonio had worked with who were readily agreeable to anything he said due to his reputation. How he held himself when he wasn’t kneeling in the dirt beside him, it was strong and assured, just like how he imagined lawyers from his time to hold themself. That stray curl, how it never laid flat against his head and just decided on it’s own to behave the way it did. The curiosity Lorenzo had of the modern world had Antonio entranced every time he asked a question about something he saw, needing Antonio to explain what it was and what it did. Even the willingness to start learning Italian to fit in more the third day they had been at the dig and returned back to the hotel for the night. Antonio was no longer just thinking Lorenzo was attractive, no, Antonio really was in love with this Roman from out of time.

Soon enough, the dig came to a close and they had to pack up and get ready to leave, Antonio and Lorenzo had figured out where they were going to start with the search for the treasure, in Naples, it was somewhere on Mount Vesuvius from what Antonio had found out, but the issue that stumped the two of them, was the last bit  _ “But time and time alone can show you what you seek, for what does time mean when time means different to another?” _ What did it mean? Time was the same for everyone, was it not? It just meant that Antonio needed to do more research over what that could mean.

As the two packed up to head down to Naples, Gilbert came into the hotel room unceremoniously, after knocking and being let in by Antonio.  
“So, what are the plans you two are going to do? Since it doesn’t seem that Lorenzo is going back to his time any time soon, if ever. This whole magic thing is so confusing and I don’t get it” he flopped onto the chair by the desk before noticing Antonio’s open laptop with the booking confirmation for a hotel in Naples. A curious eyebrow got raised as he looked over at his best friend “You never told me you were going to Naples after this dig? When was it decided? Why wasn’t I told? What are you two going to do there?” It was question after question from Gilbert, causing Antonio and Lorenzo to look at each other as they debated on if they should tell him about the treasure and that they were going to be looking for it. Antonio soon gave in with a sigh and looked at Gilbert.

“We’re going to Naples to try and find the mysterious treasure from that paperwork of the trial from Lore’s time with the magic scandal.” He explained, frowning slightly when Gilbert grinned.   
“A treasure hunt?? That sounds like fun! Can I join in? How much have you figured out?” He asked as he sat up in the chair from where he was draped over it. Antonio and Lorenzo looked at each other again at that, it was clear both of them were debating on actually letting Gilbert join in on the treasure hunt, it was Lorenzo who spoke up this time.

“Fine, but don’t go messing this up for us dammit, we don’t even know if there really is a treasure, since the man sounded fucking delusional during the trial. We can’t exactly know if he was telling the truth or not” he huffed slightly, crossing his arms over his chest in irritation. He didn’t like the thought of Gilbert joining them, but he was going to have to be allowed to join them on the hunt otherwise they would just keep being bugged by him asking to join the search the entire time he and Antonio would be in Naples figuring it out and actually searching. He would just have to suck it up.

“Since you’re going to be joining us in the treasure hunt, you’re going to have to book your own hotel room since I only booked a room for Lorenzo and I” Antonio added “I can give you the hotel that we’re staying at, but you won’t be bunking with us.”   


Gilbert soon got a wicked smirk on his face at Antonio’s mentioning of him and Lorenzo sharing a room before looking at his childhood friend with a teasing hum, speaking in German so that Lorenzo wouldn’t understand what he was saying.   
“ **So~ You two are sharing a room~? May I ask why? Is it because you want privacy so you can bang him?** ” Gilbert teased lightly, going over to Antonio to nudge him his elbow.   
Lorenzo snorted in disgust at the German Gilbert was speaking, figuring out quickly that it was related to the Germanic language that he had heard a few times in his time. “Barbaric, utterly barbaric, now I know why I really don’t like you” he muttered slightly, but loud enough for Gilbert to hear. Gilbert just rolled his eyes at Lorenzo’s comment and wiggled his eyebrows at Antonio, he hadn’t gotten an answer yet of course.  
Antonio shoved Gilbert lightly at that with a blush on his cheeks and averted eyes “ **No, nothing like that! It’s just that the room I had booked only has two beds and honestly, it’ll be crammed enough if you were to join us** ” Not that he hadn’t thought about it at one point, but of course, he wasn’t sure if Lorenzo felt the same way he did. It didn’t go unnoticed to him how Lorenzo’s look of disgust turned into one of almost betrayal. Antonio spoke that barbaric language? Betrayal of the highest degree.  
“ **If you say so~** ” Gilbert hummed in a sing-song tease before ruffling Antonio’s hair “Okay, so, I’ll go book my hotel room then, when are you two planning on leaving?” he got out his phone so he could do it while they were talking.   


“Today, I rented a car so we could drive down as soon as we were done packing. It’s so we can settle into the hotel room and get researching and scouting out possibly where in Mount Vesuvius’ crater the treasure is meant to be hidden.” Antonio said simply as he returned to packing his bags, moving on to help Lorenzo pack his bags, making sure that the two of them had everything they had with them. That included Lorenzo’s journal in their belongings.   
“Sheesh, doesn’t give me enough time if you are almost done packing, can I ride down with you two? Heck, I’ll drive and you two sit in the back and just talk if you two want to” Gilbert offered, putting his phone away once he was done booking his room “Done booking my room by the way. I still can’t believe you two didn’t tell me that you were planning on going on a treasure hunt! That’s one of the best things that you can do!”   
“Fine, you can join us in the car on the way down, thank you so much for offering to be the driver” Antonio hummed slightly and looked at Gilbert “You’d better get packing because Lorenzo and I are done, I’m gonna go pick up the car and bring it here, so you’d better be done by then” he grinned slightly and gestured for Gilbert to leave the room. The other left with an ‘oh shit, yeah!’ and Antonio and Lorenzo finally exited the room after him, making their way down to the hotel lobby where Lorenzo could wait for Antonio to get the rental car.

The drive was relatively uneventful, except for Lorenzo clinging onto Antonio’s arm, he wasn’t used to cars and it kind of scared him. How it seemingly ran without anything pulling it, and the noise it made hurt his ears. At the hotel, Antonio checked himself and Lorenzo in, bringing the other up to their room and allowing him to choose which bed he wanted to sleep in while Antonio set up his laptop for research. The two had left Gilbert to check in himself. Antonio would text him what room they were staying in later.  
“So, are you ready to continue searching for the treasure?” Antonio asked Lorenzo with a smile his way, opening up his laptop so he could start working.   
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I admit, this is really exciting” Lorenzo went to sit beside Antonio to help out with the research.

As the days passed, Antonio, Gilbert and Lorenzo often went between exploring Mount Vesuvius to find the right location of where the treasure would be, and staying in the hotel room to continue figuring out what the final line of the instructions meant. The trio knew that it was supposedly hidden somewhere in the crater of the volcano, they just couldn’t properly find it. They always left before the sun set since otherwise it would be way too dark for them to return back to the hotel if they had stayed longer. The days that they stayed in the hotel, Antonio was juggling research on his laptop and discussing theories with Lorenzo and Gilbert. During those days in the hotel, Lorenzo started to appreciate Antonio more, every time he watched the archeologist typing on the computer, his heart would start to squeeze tightly in a pleasant way. Antonio hunched over his laptop was a sight that Lorenzo hadn’t expected to enjoy, was this how he was when he had been studying in school? Studying to be able to understand and tenderly dig out pieces of the past that had been lost to time. It was attractive, Antonio’s eyes focused and scanning the text on the screen, tongue poking out just slightly past his lips in thought. What was this feeling that Lorenzo was feeling? It felt nice. He imagined himself running his fingers through Antonio’s hair gently as he laid in the other’s arms tenderly and lovingly. Lovingly? Wait, when did love come into his mind? It didn’t feel bad though. He quite liked the idea of being in a relationship with Antonio the more he thought about it. He felt his chest warm at the thought. Maybe he was falling in love with the archeologist and that was okay.

About a week or so had passed and one day, when the trio were in the hotel room researching, Antonio let out a sound of triumph.  
“I think I’ve figured out what the last part of the instructions meant!” he exclaimed before going to sit on the bed with Lorenzo and Gilbert, a proud grin on his face. He clearly was excited about what he had found out.  
“ _ But time and time alone can show you what you seek, for what does time mean when time means different to another? _ I first thought that it was just a throwaway, because time zones and such, but obviously there are no other time zones in Italy. That’s thrown out of the window then. But what if it meant time as in when you’ve lived? Lorenzo, you were brought here by something from your life under Hadrian’s rule, you’re in a completely different time period from what Gilbert and I are from. What if it means that you are a part of the key to finding it? What if it needs to be people from different time periods, so then, and now, who is there when the sun sets in Vesuvius’ crater? That makes the most sense, right?” Antonio looked between Gilbert and Lorenzo, both of whom had very thoughtful looks on their faces over Antonio’s theory. It was Lorenzo who spoke up first.   
“You know, that makes a lot of sense actually” he agreed “Because why else would I be here if not the reason being that two different time periods needs to be there for the treasure to show itself, though it would probably have been put in place after the trial, because the guy clearly must have found it without someone from a different time period. I hadn’t seen anyone that seemed out of place at all.”   
Gilbert laughed at that “Well, you guys figured it out, you cracked the case of the missing treasure. I’m gonna head back to Germany now though, I’m tired of clearly being the third wheel when you two are clearly focused more on each other. Not that I’ve not had any fun hanging out and doing this with you guys, but yeah, gonna peace on out and let you guys have fun alone” he wiggled his eyebrows teasingly at Antonio, knowing that the other would get what he was implying. Antonio just blushed and tossed a pillow at Gilbert in retaliation.   
“Get out then if you’ve decided to leave us to get all the glory in finding the treasure ourselves, don’t expect us to give you any credit though in finding it” he joked lightly, hoping that Lorenzo wouldn’t notice his blush. Gilbert blocked the pillow onto the bed with a laugh at that, it was so easy to tease Antonio like this, he knew what could get the Spaniard blushing like crazy, even if it was the simplest of things. He got off the bed and hummed.

“I’ll be going then, cya later, and can’t wait to see you in the news over the fact you’ve done the impossible~” Gilbert waved as he left the room, leaving Lorenzo and Antonio alone on the beds, looking at each other. Antonio coughed awkwardly into his hand after Gilbert left before looking at Lorenzo almost tenderly.   
“So, since we figured the instructions out, should we go get the treasure tomorrow? Or what do you think?” He asked, somehow after what Gilbert said, being alone with Lorenzo felt awkward, in a way that was telling him to confess his feelings to Lorenzo and get it all out there, but also to keep it deep inside him for fear of what the other might think of him.

“I’d say we go tomorrow, since we don’t want to stress ourselves out tonight if we were to go right now, I think the sun will be setting soon either way. We’ve missed our chance tonight.” Lorenzo agreed to the first one, looking out the window of their hotel room to the sun that was slowly sinking down under the horizon, it was a beautiful sunset, he could only imagine what it would look like the next evening, from the crater of Mount Vesuvius. “We should get ready for tomorrow though” Lorenzo said finally, breaking out of his thoughts about tomorrow, turning to look at Antonio, he hummed slightly “Should we go to bed early tonight so we have a good night’s rest?” he suggested. Antonio nodded in agreement and went to collect his sleep stuff.   
“I’ll go get ready in the bathroom then, I’ll be quick though.” He promised as he made his way to the bathroom, quickly getting himself ready for bed. Lorenzo had gotten ready in the main room, slipping into his bed as Antonio returned to slip into his own bed.   
“Good night, Lorenzo” Antonio reached over to turn off the side table lamp before settling down more in his bed, a small smile on his face as he imagined what the next day would be like.   
“Good night, Antonio” Lorenzo was smiling as well, this was beyond what he had imagined, finding the treasure that so many people thought had been magic, if he returned to his own time, he would be sure to tell everyone he knew about the truth, even at the expense of his own reputation being at stake for agreeing with a supposed madman and magic user.

The next morning, the two were up bright and early to get ready for the day, both were excited but at the same time, apprehensive over what they might find when they uncover the treasure. They had a hearty breakfast before they set off to grab some easily packed lunches and dinners so they could stay around Vesuvius for the day. Antonio was carrying most of the items, to let Lorenzo take it easy for the first part of the journey, Lorenzo was going to demand to help sooner or later. As they made their way up the volcano, they took their lunch break with excited hushed murmurs over what they might find and they had their dinner together roughly an hour before the sun was to set, to give them enough time to finish eating just about when it would start to set if they timed it right.

As the sun set, Antonio and Lorenzo waited with baited breath as their eyes scanned the area to find an inkling of where the treasure was. Lorenzo was the one to notice the cave that seemingly revealed itself to them and he nudged Antonio roughly to get his attention, pointing over to the cave.   
“I think we found it!” he breathed as the two of them made their way towards it, looking inside when they finally got to it. Inside there was a variety of statues, gold, and so much more.   
“So this is the fabled treasure” Antonio’s eyes were wide and he stepped into the cave to examine everything, his archeological mind singing as he analyzed the marble of the statues to the quality of the gold.   
“We found it Antonio! We really found it!” Lorenzo had stepped into the cave after Antonio and was looking around in awe. The cave was amazing and everything was real. He looked over at the archeologist with the widest grin on his face, to be met with the same expression on the other’s face.   
“We really did, Lorenzo!” Antonio grinned as the two of them hugged each other tightly. As Antonio gazed at Lorenzo while standing in the cave, he had an overwhelming urge to  _ kiss _ Lorenzo once and for all and he gave in. He reached up to cup Lorenzo’s cheek tenderly before leaning down and kissing him gently and quickly, pulling away awkwardly only to be pulled back into the kiss by Lorenzo, which surprised him to say the least, but was welcome nonetheless. As the two finally pulled away to breath. Antonio had a dumb grin on his face.   
“So I take it you feel the same way I do?” he teased gently, but worried that Lorenzo pulling him back was somehow a mistake on his part.   
“You are a dumbass if you think otherwise, you kissed me first and I just decided that your kiss wasn’t enough and I wanted a better one” Lorenzo shot back with a smile, gazing up at Antonio lovingly, everything he felt for Antonio was finally showing its face to him.  
“Honestly Lorenzo, I love you so much, you’re so amazing and I wonder how lucky I am that I got to know you when I did, even if it was an unconventional meeting” Antonio hummed softly and pulled Lorenzo back into another kiss, this time, knowing that he wasn’t going to let the other go any time soon.

In the end, Lorenzo and Antonio decided to donate the treasures found in the cave to various museums around the world, since it held a large bit of Roman history, the scandal had been talked about for generations and people had been flocking to try and find the magical treasure, none finding it, until the archeologist and his boyfriend found it together. They were over the news for days, people flocking them for interviews and spots on talk shows. They received a large amount of money as a reward for finding it, but even with the newfound wealth, Antonio still prefered to continue working in the field of archeology, digging in the trenches and learning about history long forgotten. Lorenzo had finally learned Italian and English, to fit into the modern world better, having not been able to return to his own time. He spent time helping Antonio in the trenches but also continued pursuing law like he had done before, even if laws were different now than they were then. Late at night, when they would lie in bed together, they would murmur softly in Latin to each other, that language that had united the two and allowed Lorenzo to have an anchor in a world unfamiliar to him. The world was still unfamiliar of course, but with Antonio there beside him to help him out, he knew that he would be able to take on this new world without hesitation. They were a love across time and they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.


End file.
